Media & Public Relations

Energy Innovation Day at Binghamton University to focus on alternative technologies

2012-03-26

Iberdrola USA CEO Robert Kump will be keynote speaker

BINGHAMTON, NY – Energy Innovation Day on Tuesday, Apr. 17, will highlight and promote new synergies between Binghamton University researchers, the business community, utilities and federal and state agencies in the commercialization of alternative energy products and services. The event will run from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Binghamton University’s Engineering and Science Building at the Innovative Technologies Complex on Murray Hill Road in Vestal.

Robert D. Kump, chief executive officer of Iberdrola USA, the parent company of New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG), will deliver the lunchtime keynote address, “The Growing Use of Technology in the Utility Sector.”

Kump has been in his current position since 2009, guiding the transition to Iberdrola USA, following the acquisition of Energy East Corporation by Iberdrola S.A., a global energy leader. He oversees organizational redesign and development, external constituency relations, strategic planning and staff development and succession planning.

Kump is a graduate of Binghamton University and a certified public accountant in New York state.

Francis J. Murray, Jr., president and chief executive officer of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), will be a featured speaker as well.

Before his current appointment, Murray served as senior advisor at the international environmental consulting firm Ecology and Environment, Inc., where he provided strategic policy and market development guidance on environmental and energy issues to a number of private sector and not-for-profit clients.

Murray also was policy advisor to the United States Secretary of Energy, assisting in the development of the Clinton Administration’s national energy policy.

Murray, a graduate of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, holds a law degree from Georgetown.

Geared as a showcase of Binghamton University’s top scientific and engineering talent, facilities and technologies, Energy Innovation Day will highlight the broad range of resources companies can tap into to leverage their commercialization efforts. Presentation tracks moderated by faculty in key research areas, include:

- Energy-efficient systems research and development, led by Kanad Ghose, chair of Binghamton’s Department of Computer Science and site director for the new NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Energy Efficient Electronic Systems (E3S).

- Emergent alternative energy generation technologies, led by Roger Westgate, director of the Center for Autonomous Solar Power (CASP).

- Education innovations, led by Wayne Jones, chair and professor of inorganic and materials chemistry.

Also included on the agenda is a tour of the new Engineering and Science building, and an evening reception that will be shared with participants in the next day’s TECHSTORM NY event.

Innovation Day is free and open to the public, but registration is encouraged as seating is limited. E-mail innovation@binghamton.edu to sign up and for more information.